FLOIR approves new P&C insurer as Citizens depopulation participation rises

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) recently approved Texas-based property and casualty (P&C) insurer, Mainsail Insurance Company, as a new domestic insurer following legislative reforms earlier this year.

At the same time as the approval of Mainsail Insurance, the second domestic firm approved to become an authorised P&C insurer in the State of Florida since the reforms were passed into law, after Tailrow Insurance Company in July, the OIR has said that it has seen “greater participation and interest in the Citizens Depopulation program this year.”

In fact, OIR has approved insurers to assume 280,000 policies from Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation through October 2023.

This is up from the 91,000 policies for takeout from Citizens that the OIR reported it had approved back in July.

The growth suggests that the recent reforms have started to have a benefit, with insurers seemingly more willing to take on Florida property insurance risk.

As we’ve discussed previously, Citizens policy count began this year at around 1.15 million, but had risen dramatically from roughly 760,000 policies at the start of 2022.

As of July 7th, 2023, we reported on the fact Florida Citizens had more than 1.32 million policies in-force, which is a huge over $561.6 billion of exposure for the insurer.

With greater participation in the depopulation program, which was created by the Florida Legislature as a way to reduce the number of Citizens’ insured properties and exposure, the company’s exposure would have declined from this level.

The OIR says that it continues to accept and review applications and will announce new entrants on a rolling basis, so it could be the case that more insurers enter the Florida market and reduce the exposure for Citizens in the future.

“OIR remains steadfast in its mission to promote a stable and competitive insurance market for consumers. The addition of Mainsail Insurance Company to the Florida market is evidence that recent legislative reforms are having a positive impact for consumers,” said Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky.